Spring was always short. After a few short periods of heavy rain, the weather gradually warmed up again.
But compared to the Northlands, which was still bitterly cold, this place was obviously more suitable for humans to live in. At the very least, the wood spirits loved this type of climate. It was warm, humid, and full of sunlight. It was especially suitable for plants to grow here.
But right now, a southern wind with the stench of rotting corpses began to blow. Dark clouds followed, and the temperature suddenly dropped, as if hinting that the warm summer wouldn't arrive so soon. At the very least, they still had to survive the fatal spring chill.
Since the seeds of the Forest of Dreams resembled oak trees after they sprouted, the newly born Forest of Dreams had a nice-sounding name: Oak Town. As for the guardians of the Forest of Dreams, the fact that the undead hadn't arrived yet caused them to simultaneously rejoice and worry.
They were relieved that the shadow of war would arrive a few days later than expected. They had more time to prepare for war. They were worried that the longer they waited, the more astonishing the number and quality of the undead would be.
The earliest estimate was that the undead would arrive two days ago, but they still hadn't seen any sign of them. Many veterans had already mentally prepared themselves. With so much time to prepare for war, it was highly likely that the undead had already gathered all of Nightrain City's frontline troops. The undead army that was about to arrive would be ridiculously large.
"It'd be great if they arrived ten or fifteen days later. I've heard that many people from the Mage Country are interested in Justice Points. Perhaps they'll join us."
But judging from the thick smoke that suddenly rose in the distance, it was likely that the undead army hadn't arrived yet. The undead army had arrived. Before the dark clouds covered Oak Town, a Pegasus Knight landed first. Before he even landed, he was already loudly announcing his arrival.
"They're here, they're here!"
What was coming? Actually, everyone knew what was coming, but none of them panicked.
"Close the city gates!"
"Notify all scouting and hunting teams to return to Oak Town."
"Nobody notified the wood spirits or the leaders? Hurry up and send a messenger. "
This was what adventurers were like. They were noisy and chaotic, but also full of motivation. Several minutes later, everyone learned that war was about to arrive and began to get busy.
Actually, there was no need to hide the military situation. Seasoned warriors would be able to judge the size and arrival time of the undead army from the height of the sand and dust they kicked up. The undead's vanguard Knight would arrive in about two hours. The warriors had long since been prepared and mobilized.
A large number of bows and arrows were placed on top of the city wall. The archers began to adjust their bowstrings, the Ents rose from the ground, and the catapults began their final calculations.
In less than an hour and a half, the first batch of skeleton knights arrived. The silent skeleton Knight carried their rotten saddles and lances as they circled around the city walls, looking for gaps in the defense. If the enemy revealed a weak point, they would naturally become the spearhead of the ambush. However, in the end, they still retreated.
"Am I late?"
The Death Knight Haben finally gave up on his plans to forcefully attack. For the first time in his life, he doubted the Undead Emperors' judgment when he saw the scene before him. Perhaps the Tark Republic had underestimated these plant lifeforms far too much?
The roots of the Sky Piercing Tree brought the power of its mother, giving the newly born "Oak Seed" the power to mature. Meanwhile, the "Primal Oak" that gradually sprouted gave Oak Town new power. When the natural cycle was reconstructed, although Oak Town was still called Oak Town, in most people's eyes, it already had a fortress level defense.
The city walls grew taller and taller as well as the patrols of Oak Town's treants. But let's not talk about these things for now. The most incomprehensible part was that this green fortress was now covered in greenery. The trees were growing at a visible rate, and forest after forest was formed in this wasteland. The wastelands of the past had now transformed into grasslands and forests.
This was a miracle created by the overflowing power of nature. Soon, this forest would become nourishment for Oak Town's continued growth. The smaller creatures of nature would be absorbed by the larger cycle of nature. One cycle after another, the cycle would finally reach an equilibrium. At that time, just getting close to Oak Town would cause countless hostile gazes to stare at you.
The undead's vanguard commander discovered that the enemy's defenses were complete, and that using the skeleton knights to forcefully attack Oak Town would only result in useless losses, so he unhesitatingly chose to retreat and wait for his main forces to arrive.
Meanwhile, in a temporary mountain command center in Oak Town, the adventurers' leader was also discussing the current military situation.
From a certain standpoint, the wood spirits were strictly adhering to their nature as NPCs. It was obvious that they lacked complete trust in the adventurers. Not only that, the wood spirits and the adventurers had completely different goals for their missions. The wood spirits hoped that Oak Town would grow stronger, and they wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice themselves. Meanwhile, the adventurers always pursued the greatest benefits for themselves. Naturally, two different leadership groups appeared in Oak Town. But judging from the current situation, they were still mainly cooperating and didn't have many disagreements.
There were two sets of leaders. One was the adventurers' alliance, while the other was the wood spirits' decision makers. To be honest, this was likely to be the most common form of cooperation between the Contract Heroes and the local factions in the future. The local factions would forever hope that their subordinates would be completely obedient and obedient, carrying out every order to the letter.
From the employer's perspective, they would make the best use of their subordinates. It would be best to have temporary allies that could be bought with money as the most dangerous cannon fodder. They would definitely want to keep the direct subordinates that they had painstakingly nurtured. However, the adventurers' alliance would need to think about their subordinates. The adventurers' alliance would want to be able to obtain large profits without losing a single life.
Since the adventurers' positions were different, there would naturally be differences.
Cooperation, communication, and an appropriate amount of trust would be needed. There would be a faint relationship between superior and subordinate, but it wouldn't be absolute. Both sides would maintain a certain distance from each other, and they would all share the same goal. This seemed to be the best choice right now.
This time, the adventurers' alliance was composed of more than ten veteran adventurers. Those who could speak were either the higher-ups of large mercenary groups or highly respected adventurers who represented the interests of the scattered adventurers.
"There's a total of 60,000 to 80,000 undead. Judging from their banners, there should be more than ten undead Demon Lords. Their leader is Davey of Asolivis …"
Unlike the scattered adventurers who only saw the skeleton Knight in front of them, the large mercenary groups all had their own methods of investigation. Some used aerial cavalry to patrol ahead of time, while others used prophecy mages to cast detection spells. The situation of the undead army's main force was already clear to everyone.
When the various investigation methods gathered the information they obtained, they naturally came up with a rather reliable conclusion. However, the tent was still as silent as ever. This wasn't because the undead were too powerful, but rather …
"That can't be right. There are far too few undead. Could it be a trap?"
That's right. Unlike what they had expected, there were far fewer undead than expected. Originally, everyone had expected that all of Asolivis's Undead Lords would be mobilized, and the total undead army would likely exceed a million. However, only one-tenth of the Undead Lords had actually arrived.
A pincer attack? A feint? Bait? Or perhaps they would just abandon this place and fight somewhere else? Many thoughts flashed through everyone's minds. However, because there were far too many possibilities, nobody dared to come to a conclusion.
Suddenly, a messenger pigeon flew into the tent and landed on Kaise's hand as he was still thinking.
"… It would seem that our employer has an additional source of information."
This was a message from the wood spirits. This meant that due to certain reasons, some Undead Lords refused to join the army, while some Undead Lords that had already gathered suddenly left the army. This was why the undead army's combat strength was so low, allowing the adventurers to rest easy and prepare for battle.
"Certain reasons? It would seem that our employer doesn't completely trust us? "
Right after Kaise said this, some people were obviously dissatisfied. The adventurers were risking their lives and fighting for their employer, yet they were unable to obtain their employer's trust. It was only natural that they would be dissatisfied.
A white-haired old man helplessly shook his head. He was Aero Simu, a former bishop of the Earth Mother Goddess's church. He was now a rather famous adventurer.
"Ha, to be honest, even we can't completely trust our companions? Not to mention, there was that incident earlier. "
He was obviously talking about the spy incident from a few days ago. Ever since this incident was exposed, many adventuring teams had become much more careful. Nobody knew if there were any undead spies among their own adventuring teams.
"I heard that as well. I heard that the wood spirits even invited some other helpers. I heard that it's someone who's ranked in the top 30 of the fairies' rankings?"
"The Famous Generals Ranking? That's impossible. The top 30 are all national treasures of every country. How could they possibly accept a mercenary? And if there really was a famous general, that person would have long since been given the authority to command. It's not like we don't know what's important. "
"… Did you all forget? The fairies don't just list the famous generals of every country. They have an even more authoritative ranking. "
"… The Calamity Ranking!? The top 30 of the Calamity Ranking? Are you certain that you're here to help us and not to kill us all? "
Everyone instantly calmed down. The Calamity Ranking meant that "if you accidentally meet someone from the Calamity Ranking, don't even think about fighting back, and don't even think about counterattacking. Hurry up and run for your life." The ones at the bottom of the Calamity Ranking were all monsters like Supreme Immemorial Dragons that could easily crush ordinary SemiGods. And the ones in the top 30 were basically all thousand-year-old monsters that were super troublesome and unkillable.
"Top 30? Willing to be hired? Is it the Plague King or the 'Volcano Tyrant'? No matter which one it is, it's definitely not a good thing! "
The Plague King was a classical alchemist who specialized in potions. His first research topic was medicine that could cure plagues. However, due to certain reasons, the person he was hoping to cure ended up being burned alive as the source of the plague. As a doctor, he was declared a heretic and a blasphemer by the Holy Church, and was constantly being hunted down.
In the end, he really became a heretic. When he took revenge, he released a mutated virus that he had painstakingly cultivated, turning the entire parish of his enemy into a living hell. Now, the Plague King was wanted by more than 20 countries, yet he was still at large.
The Volcano Tyrant was one of the few "Moving Calamities" that were still active on the continent and accepted employment from others. Of course, the people who hired him weren't to cure plagues, but to create plagues. Apart from the fact that he hated the Holy Church to the bone and would take revenge whenever he had the chance, the Volcano Tyrant was the most harmless of all the Calamities. However, the reason why he was ranked eleventh on the Calamity Ranking was because he was rumored to be too weak to even fight a chicken. However, the moment he died, the various viruses he stored in his body would explode, reducing the entire population of Eich by one in two. Even the Holy Church only dared to say that he was wanted; nobody dared to actually take action.
If the Plague King was a man-made calamity, then the Volcano Tyrant was a true Calamity. The Volcano Tyrant was a gigantic magma scorpion that fed on geothermal heat. He lived in volcanic regions for a long time, and it was rumored that he had the ability to cause volcanoes to erupt at will. In reality, every time he appeared, there would always be a volcanic eruption.
The magma scorpion had no enemies in this continent. Although it possessed high intelligence, it desired flesh, blood, and souls as delicacies. That was why it accepted employment in battle. Although it only accepted SemiGod Equipment and other similar treasures, and it wasn't as if the various countries' royalty couldn't afford to hire it, business had never been good. Apart from the fact that it required 700 sacrifices as a minimum "appearance fee", whenever it appeared on the battlefield, both sides would lose.
After all, the fertile lakes they were fighting over had become volcanic regions, and the important strategic locations had become lava lakes. This was also a result of the Volcano Tyrant's heavy losses.
It was precisely because of this that each country had a secret alliance with the Volcano Tyrant. Any country or individual that hired the Volcano Tyrant would become public enemy number one. However, there would always be people in this world who were at the end of their rope. Although the Volcano Tyrant didn't have much business, there would always be business every few decades.
The Plague King was ranked in the top 20 on the Calamity Rankings due to how "important" its life was. The Volcano Tyrant, who had caused countless tragedies, was only ranked 29th. From this, it could be seen just what kind of trash the top 30 on the Calamity Rankings were. And now, it was rumored that the wood spirits had hired a Calamity ranked in the top 30, which was likely ranked even higher than the Volcano Tyrant. Naturally, all the adventurers were terrified.
"No, we need to ask the wood spirits about this!"
While the situation was in chaos, Kaise received a letter from one of his own adventurer group members. The information that he wanted to find out had already been obtained.
"… As expected, that 'Wood Spirits Are So Cute' team no longer has anyone at their campsite?"
Meanwhile, the undead were also quite busy.
From a certain standpoint, I was beginning to admire and sympathize with that Undead Lord named Davey.
The older one got, the more afraid they would be of death. Intelligent undead weren't all lunatics who didn't fear anything. When the list of missing undead appeared, many Undead Lords who wanted to ride on Davey's coattails now had to think about their futures.
"My apologies, I have some personal matters to take care of. I wish everyone good luck."
It was likely that no Undead Lord would be willing to stay in the undead army until the reason for the disappearances was discovered. After all, it wasn't just low-level undead that had disappeared. There were even Legend and Saint-ranked Undead Lords and Undead Lords that had disappeared.
However, even though Davey asked for help from the Undead Emperors, he received no response. In this situation, unless the reason for the disappearances was discovered and eradicated, nobody would be willing to mysteriously disappear like this.
Even Davey himself was dumbfounded as he looked at the list of missing undead. However, it was impossible for him to back down now. He only had one chance. If he failed … the Undead Emperors wouldn't care about the reason. If he failed, he failed. Anything he didn't have would be thrown into the trash. Davey would lose everything he had, and he would even have to face the Undead Emperors' wrath.
When news spread that the undead who had left were no longer miserably disappearing, even an idiot would realize that Davey had been targeted by some frightening existence. If he didn't want to take the risk, what should he do?
The most important part was that Davey himself was still unable to come up with a plan to stabilize the undead's morale … To be honest, not only him, even I wouldn't be able to find anything wrong with the situation if I was in his position.
"War" was still in its infancy. None of the undead's detection spells would be able to find anyone who hadn't been born yet. And, the undead's "contribution to the undead's fusion" was an almost instinctive suicidal behavior. Perhaps a single summon would cause the undead's desire to go out for a stroll to automatically end. Such a situation was incredibly strange and impossible to guard against.
If Davey was willing to disband his undead army and reorganize it, he would naturally be able to solve this problem. However, he didn't have the time to do so.
And so, the undead army, which had originally numbered more than three hundred thousand, was reduced to only fifty to sixty thousand. Most of them were Davey's direct subordinates, the type who had signed soul contracts with Davey. If Davey wanted them dead, he would be able to kill them with a single thought.
But even so, Davey was still filled with confidence. Every day, the melodious sound of a violin could be heard coming from his residence. It seemed that this music-loving Undead Lord was still in a good mood, as he still held small concerts every day. But …
"He's feeling guilty. He's intentionally acting the same as before, but he's actually revealing his true nature of cowardice."
"Indeed, since he's already on the battlefield, all he needs to do is raise his guard. Acting like this will only make him seem even more guilty."
Harloys and I casually watched the commotion. But to be honest, I was still rather doubtful.
After all, while the Undead Lords were willing to see Davey fall, the Undead Emperors wouldn't necessarily want to see the wood spirits expand. Davey could be summoned back in a battle that was certain to fail, and Davey himself wouldn't be so stubborn as to walk down a path that was clearly certain death. It would seem that Davey definitely had an ace up his sleeve that could turn things around.
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